It's been a good week.

Most definitely a good week. It started off with a birth trifecta, which is rare at the birth center. We had 3 women all dancing around the idea of going into labor, and then they ended up all being at the birth center in active labor at the very same time. I went on call half way through this, so I attended one birth in the afternoon and stayed well into the night waiting for the next. I got home around 5:00am (I think this was on Tuesday to Wed) so Wednesday I was a tired lady. However, we had fun things planned at work for one of my coworker's 40th birthday. We had an office meeting combined with a surprise birthday party, cake, decorations, etc.That night, one of the not so pleasant moments ocurred. It was the middle of the night and I was up for one of my 234 bathroom trips. I try to keep my eyes closed and the lights off so I can stay asleep... but I think this next part proves our need for a night light. Not only does it take a full two minutes for me to find my way across our bedroom to the bathroom without tripping, I go in expecting to have to lift the toilet seat because I always keep it closed. Well someone in our house apparently doesn't always keep it closed because I reached down for the seat and ended up dunking my hand in the toilet. Gross. NOT my favorite place to wash my hands. I stumble to the sink to wash them, and since I can't see a thing (my night vision is horrid!) I grab onto our tootbrushes rather than the soap. EW. I had to then locate new toothbrushes fearing that I'd forget to do it in the morning and someone would be brushing with toilet water. Ugh. Definitely time for a night light. Especially since I'll be up in the night with a baby soon, I can't be stumbling around like this.

Thursday Eric and I went to a breastfeeding class taught by my friend Sarah, breast/lactation extraordinaire. It was very informative, and a lot of fun. I'm very confident there will be no breastfeeding problems around here as long as she's around!

Friday was absolutely wonderful. Such a special day. I had a couple of hours at work (not the special part) and then went to my baby shower! It was unbelieveable, how much work went into this shower. My friend Jen also planned a blessingway ceremony as part of it, so we had a great mix of that and baby shower games and such. There was delicious food, and a beautiful cake...

For those who don't know what a blessingway ceremony is, I will tell you what I know. A group of women get together and it's just another form of baby shower. Whoever is running it (Jen) makes a beautiful box for the pregnant woman, and inside it everyone there places a candle, and a card with a piece of mother wisdom, advice, a hope etc. The candle is for me to burn while in labor as a reminder of all the women who are supporting me. I then gave them each one as well to burn if they're in a place where they can when I'm in labor.

They also brought 2 beads, one for me and one for Henry, and went around telling me why they picked that specific bead. Jen gave me wire to make the beads into a bracelet as another reminder. Essentially, they provide tons of support and reminders of that, and then we all told our favorite birth stories which is really fun to hear from a bunch of women who have had so much experience with birth.

I was given tons of wonderful gifts for Henry. It was completely overwhelming and I'm so thankful! We got a breastpump, a stroller, a sling, so many great books which is wonderful since we didn't have any, some finger puppets, outfits, bottles from a game we played, etc.

Speaking of the games, they were so clever, and so much fun. We played pin the sperm on the egg, which was creative if you ask me! Felicity had this large box, and being a midwife she was sure to include all of the necessary parts including a felt vagina in the front. Have to be anatomically correct! :) Inside the box she had drawn an egg, ovaries, tubes, the whole shabang... So you had to reach your hand in the hole, and pin your little paper sperm somewhere on the back of the box. When we were done, she cut the box open to see who had won, and this is how that turned out...essentially no one's little swimmers had a very good sence of direction.

We used baby bottles and filled them to see who could drink the bottle the fastest. I think I made the mistake of putting milk in mine, because everyone who drank water drained the bottle MUCH quicker. It was a little surprising how hard it really is to drink from a bottle. I'm thankful that I take my liquids from a glass now a day. Or I may thirst to death.

We did a babyfood tasting, where we had a list of flavors, and then we passed around jars trying to guess what flavor they were. The first one happened to be one that made everyone nearly gag, but luckily the rest were not quite as bad. We also played a game of questions that led everyone to dropping coins in a piggy bank for Henry, it was all so clever and such fun. I love my friends! Eric and I found ourselves up late that night sitting in Henry's room (Finn too) just soaking it all in and chatting about this little one who will be on his way soon.

We had another birth class yesterday (next week will be our last) and then I finally got to the dog park again. The sun was shining so I wanted to get out, but the wind was brutal and cold. My legs were raspberry colored by the end of the walk, but it felt nice to get out and move, and Finn certainly appreciated it.

David and his girlfriend brought a giant fruit pizza to our house last night and Bekah, Ted and the kids came over to share. It was so delicious, I forgot to eat dinner.

So that brings us to today, and today is a day for housework around here! Eric has been painting the downstairs laundry room/bathroom, and I have been painting the guest room upstairs since Eric's parents will be here this week, followed by mine!

For anyone who read the post about the kitchen paint screw up, it's funny because we found that when we opened the paint we bought months ago for the laundry room, it was essentially the exact color we had been wanting for the kitchen. Who knew we already had it in the garage. Oh well! I'm loving the new colors going up on the wall, I think fresh coat of paint just changes everything.

We are now 36 weeks along... hard to believe. One week from now I'm considered within range to deliver, so the waiting game begins. I'm trying to let go of all expectations so that Henry and my body can just decide when they are ready for what's ahead, and I'll just wait for the surprise. This is not easily done. I just want to know what day it's going to be, how it will go, etc.

I've been feeling well, though I'm definitely feeling the changes. I'm so very tired, and my hips have been very sore this last week. I've noticed more frequent braxton hicks contractions (I've had noticable ones for half the pregnancy, they just are now starting to make their presense more obvious) I need to start stretching again, getting back to my long walks when I can, and most importantly I need to remind myself to rest. Because this is something I don't always make time for, but swollen legs and aching back just beg for it by the end of the day.

I have started drinking a few cups of red raspberry leaf tea each day, which is supposedly meant to help tone the uterus, therefore making labor easier, and help your uterus behave after delivery. I don't know if there is any truth to it at all, there are so many factors that it's impossible to know if tea helps or not. But I figure it sure can't hurt to try, so that's something I'm doing.

Off to do a second coat of paint (no worries, we are using the no VOC paint) and then hopefully we can get out for a park trip with the furry one!